Learning Exercise
Scholarly publications and their location
This learning exercise helps students identify, locate, and evaluate scholarly articles.
- Material:
- UC Berkeley Guides and Tutorials
- Date last modified:
- November 8, 2015
- Created by:
- Lesley Farmer
- License:
-
This website includes LibGuides, guides to government information, and research worksop. Tutorials include specific... see more
Exercise
Periodicals (sources that are published periodically, such as magazines, newspapers, conference proceedings) are great sources for very specific topics. The term "database" usually refers to subscription database aggregators of periodicals; those aggregators index those sources for easier retrieval. Once you locate the source, you have to evaluate it to see if it's high-quality and relevant. Most professors want students to read scholarly, peer-reviewed journal articles for serious research.
Complete the online tutorial on scholarly content at http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/doemoff/tutorials/scholarlycontentonline.html
Identify a research topic, and create 1 research question. Locate 2 scholarly articles from 2 different database aggregators (e.g., Academic Search Elite, ProQuest, ERIC, etc.). An easy way to show your process is to use a table. a. State what keyword combination worked for each database. b. Cite the articles, and say why you chose them. c. Find the full text of 1 article, and state how you did that. d. State what your insights/ahas were about the process.
Audience
Technical Notes
Access to online database aggregators
Requirements
Table that notes a research question, databases, keywords, citation, process;
reflection
Topics
Locating and evaluating scholarly articles
Research skills
Type of Task
Learning Objectives
Identify scholarly articles
Locate scholarly articles
Assessment
Clarity and quality of research question
Appropriateness of databases chosen, keywords used
Accuracy of citation
Clarity and accuracy of process description
Clarity and appropriateness of reflection